As the electronic pre-press industry has evolved, image quality expectations have increased greatly, thereby involving the use of ever more expensive scanning and processing equipment. Efficient work flow and productivity involves keeping the scanning functioning at the highest possible duty cycle performing productive work. Increasingly, the scanning process and the post-scanning image processing become the determinants to the rate at which original images can be processed by a facility providing these services.
The primary components of a scanning system include a computer workstation and a scanner. The traditional work flow steps for scanning multiple original images has been to perform a series of operations that are completed sequentially in order to process the next image. These steps include: 1) cleaning and mounting the original images in the scanner 2) performing an initial low-resolution scan of the original images to obtain digital data representations of the images 3) electronically selecting specific areas of the images to be processed (i.e., cropping) 4) performing a preview scan of the selected areas 5) editing the preview scan which might include color correction, rotation, scaling, etc. 6) performing a final scan of the image and 7) electronically storing the image data or directing the final scan information to an output device such as a printer. Steps three (3) through seven (7) are then repeated for each original image. Typically, the operator is idle during the preview and final scan, and while the image is being electronically stored or directed to an output device. Also, the scanner is inactive while the operator evaluates and edits each preview scan. This results in substantial loss to the output capacity in traditional scanning systems.
The traditional work flow steps for scanning a single original image include the following: 1) the computer workstation requests that the scanner perform a scan of a first band or portion of the image 2) the computer workstation waits for the band to be scanned 3) the scanned band information is retrieved from the scanner by the computer workstation 4) the scanned band information is then processed and saved in the computer workstation or directed to an output device and 5) the computer workstation requests the scanner to scan the next band of the image. Steps two (2) through five (5) are then repeated for all the bands of the original image. The problem with these workflow steps is that the computer workstation and the scanner are not performing operations simultaneously at any given time which results in reduced productivity in the scanning system.
It is accordingly a primary object of the invention that image processing operations can be carried out in parallel with scanning operations.
It is another object that the invention provide a method for scanning and post-scanning processing in a high-productivity scanning system.